1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to equipment used for the fragmenting of sections of railroad rail into smaller pieces.
2. Background
Railway rail that is removed from abandoned lines, or lines that are being repaired, represent a valuable source of scrap steel. To efficiently handle and transport the long sections of used rail to the scrap processing facility, the rail sections are first broken into smaller pieces. This fragmenting of the rail sections can be accomplished at the job site as the rail is being removed from the track, or the rail sections can be first transported to a scrap yard where they are subsequently subdivided and sent to the processing facility.
An example of a machine used to remove rail from the track bed and to break the rail as it is removed is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,323, issued June 11, 1985. A modified form of this particular device can also be used as a stationary machine for breaking sections of rail in a scrap yard. An example of another stationary rail breaking machine is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,346,828 issued Aug. 31, 1982.
It has been found that it is not always desirable to immediately break the rail as it is removed from the track, as, for example, certain sections of the rail may be reuseable. Also, it has been found that such mobile machines are not practical for use in all rail removal operations, such as on remote sections of track.
Thus, a great deal of rail continues to be removed piecemeal, in large sections, and transported to a scrap facility for segmenting by a stationary machine. However, due to the weight of the rail sections a hydraulic excavator, such as a backhoe, having a suitable grapple attached to the boom thereof is needed to pick up the long sections of rail and feed them into the stationary rail breaking machine. Thus, stationary machines require the rail to be transported to their particular location and require the additional expense of a power operated grapple.
In addition, stationary machines generally require the rail to be fed into them in a particular orientation. However, picking up a section of rail and manipulating it into a desired position with a hydraulically operated grapple can be a hit or miss proposition whereby a great deal of time can be lost attempting to properly guide the rail into the rail breaking machine.